Indian Railways has set up a solar power plant in Bina, located in the state of Madhya Pradesh to directly power the Railway Overhead Line.
Railway chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said this solar power project is unique because the power generated by the solar power plant will be directly fed to the overhead power lines of the national transporter to power the traction system of the electric locomotives to run trains.
Indian Railways in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL) has set up the pilot project of 1.7 mega watt solar power plant on railway land. The solar power plant project has been set up at Bina Traction Sub Station. The 1.7 mega watt solar power plant can produce around 25 lakh units of energy annually and save about an amount of Rs 1.37 crore for Indian Railways every year.
Railway Chairman said Indian Railways is planning to install solar power plants with a total capacity of 3 giga watts, in the coming years. The power generated by these solar plants will directly feed the traction power for locomotives. The tenders have already been invited for this project. It will take around two to three years to complete this project.